Village President Hermes on USBC Move
Exclusive to Greendale Lifeby Ron Faiola
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC), currently headquartered in Greendale announced last week that they will leave Greendale for a new home in Arlington, Texas.
For the past several months rumors flew about the USBC wanting to relocate to Texas. All of the stories dealt with the loss to Milwaukee's image of the "Bowling Capital of the US."
The story we weren't getting was about how the USBC shocked Greendale Village government with their announcement to move.
Greendale Life talked with Village Board President John Hermes, who explained what happened in the weeks leading up to the recent decision by the USBC to leave.
Spring/Summer 2007: The USBC submits plans to the Village for a new training facility to be built on their property.
Hermes said the plan was a "normal building plan like any other business would submit for approval. There were no requests for tax breaks or incentives, just the plan for the new building which was approved by the Village Board."
October 2007: The USBC announces in a press release the possibility of moving to Arlington, Texas.
Hermes recalls, "What you should know, in the very beginning of this when the USBC first hinted and put out their first press release, they had never called us, never asked us about it, they never included us in their first press release effort. We found out about it through the back door, about three days after they issued their press release."
Hermes continues, "I was in Washington DC and Jeff Stone (state Rep. R-Greendale) called and told me what happened. I reached out to the Bowling Congress and talked to their director of public relations (Mark Miller, corporate communications director). He told me 'don't worry its not a big deal, we are going to consider moving,' he explained the whole thing to me," said Hermes.
"He (Miller) said, 'we used to have some...' I think he said '20 million members worldwide and now we're down to 6-7 million.' Bowling was a declining sport, and we all kind of suspect that, but no one really wants to say that, but he was saying it." [Ed. Note: Mark Miller replied that membership was up to 9 million in the US and now down to 2.5 million. Miller said the USBC has no worldwide membership, only US members.]
Hermes said, "He (Miller) said the new board that came in decided to consolidate their efforts with this Arlington, Texas location of the BPAA (Bowling Proprietors Association of America). To us it was...it all made sense."
Hermes added, "Now they've got declining revenues they're looking for a new place, the new boards are consolidating their efforts and this new operation is looking for a new location. That's normally what corporations do when they are in this situation."
During his conversation with the USBC's corporate communications director Mark Miller, Hermes recalls, "I said will you keep us in the loop throughout this whole process? He said 'absolutely, I'll tell the CEO you called, he's not in today otherwise you'd be talking to him.'"
Hermes continued with Miller, "Any time you guys want to sit down and talk about staying in Greendale we're here, we're ready for you, we want you to stay, you've been a good citizen all these years, trouble is there's not much we can offer you. And he said, 'we know that.' That was after the first press release."
The USBC's corporate communications director, Mark Miller responds, "They (Village of Greendale) were not initially notified, but we did keep them in the loop after John Hermes called us. I alerted our officials and they talked to the Village Manager (Todd Michaels) who told us they couldn't do anything for us."
"Our costs are high, healthcare, taxes; our costs of doing business in Greendale, in this area. One of things we were looking at is there anything we can do about that and they (Village of Greendale) basically said no we can't do anything."
Hermes recalls the situation differently, "Shortly after the first conversation, (Village Manager) Todd Michaels called the (USBC) CEO and was basically told the same thing. Todd offered to meet with him, was told when that opportunity came along they would contact him."
"We extended those offers, now the second press release comes out; that was the one in January (2008), saying they were going to move; their board just met down south somewhere and said they were going to move," recalls Hermes.
"Todd and I had made the calls, they had not contacted us, not written, not emailed us and now here comes the second press release: they are moving," said Hermes.
Hermes continues, "And they (USBC) start pointing the fingers that 'they can't remain in this economic climate'. Todd and I kind of threw up our hands and said well what is it? We've reached out, we've told them we want to sit down and talk to them but they have not including us in anything.
During this time, Village Board Trustee Jim Strange posted an online comment on the Greendale Forum, saying "Greendale has communicated with the Bowling Congress. Greendale is at a disadvantage, we have nothing to offer them other than a property tax rebate. The other communities can offer money, TIFs etc. but by law our hands are tied."
Hermes replies, "Well, thats a slippery slope, if you start offering tax incentives or tax rebates or tax reductions to one business, then you're going to have every other business in Greendale knocking at your door. Other than...I don't know what we had to offer. We certainly wouldn't go down the road of a tax rebate. They're not a tax exempt entity."
In early March, the Milwaukee 7, a group of business leaders who work to promote and attract more business to Milwaukee, along with Mayor Tom Barrett visited the USBC/BPAA board in Atlanta armed with proposals to keep the USBC in the Milwaukee area.
Hermes said he was not invited to the Atlanta meeting, however, Michaels was in contact with the Milwaukee 7.
Well before the Atlanta meeting, Hermes had signed a mutual letter along with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, West Allis Mayor Jeannette Bell and the Milwaukee 7 encouraging the USBC to stay in the Milwaukee area.
Hermes said, "We don't want them to move, they've been great residents for 40 years and never been a complainer about their taxes."
When asked about the future without the USBC, Hermes said, "The village has a clear interest in how that (the USBC land and building) will be used in the future. We have high hopes, high expectations. That is a very lucrative piece of property next to one of the most important retail centers in the region."
Hermes added, "Economic impact is not significant at this point. (The USBC site) will remain a revenue producing place for Greendale."
Miller said, "We do have 5 commercial real estate companies we're interviewing to sell the building. We should be out of here by the end of the year."
Looking back over the course of the events, it seems that the USBC had already made the decision to leave but wanted to see what kind of offers would come from Milwaukee. Those offers may have given the USBC some leverage to get final approval for $900,000 in incentives from Texas.
When asked about that, Hermes said, "That seems to be the game they were playing. Todd and I felt that they had already had their mind made up all through this process."
Hermes commented on the focus of the USBC story on Milwaukee, not Greendale, "That's interesting that it never came out. I'm not truly concerned but I am concerned that our citizens would think that we would just allow these businesses to leave without having conversations with them."